Hiya!Not been here for ages, for one reason or another, one of them being that my motivation to do indeed any physical exercise at all, besides walking my dogs, seems to be going in cycles of roughly 1.5 - 2 years ... As it appears, I've just ended 1.5 years of practical inactivity and started running a couple of months ago. "Running" is a loose term tho ... half the time I barely go faster than someone who's walking, but hey, it's the thought that counts! What's even more astounding: I've entered this 5.25 mile run in 2 weeks! Mate at work challenged me and that was that - should finally learn to keep my big mouth shut!

So I'm trying to run 2-3 times a week, with varying success rates. My biggest "obstacle", so to speak, is that I work full time and have 2 dogs, 2 Collie crosses of about 5-6 years old, so still with plenty of energy to burn. They get taken out for a quick walk at lunch time by my dog walker, but they need and deserve more than that, so the first thing that I do when I get home is taking them out, and most spare time during the weekends is spent walking too; my idea of a day out is taking my dogs out to somewhere nice and walking all day

Before you ask: I love Sparks and Kiera, my dogs, both to bits, but taking them running with me is, with their personalities, a bit more of a challenge than I'm up for at the moment

Last night I ran/walked about 4.25 miles and it nearly killed me! I'm one of those as well who runs until the legs don't want to move any more, then walks until legs are able again and then jogs on.

I know I could do with weight training to support the whole running thing, and I've signed up for a new gym that was supposed to open 2 or 3 weeks ago, but has postponed its opening till 23 Nov, too late to get anything decent done ahead of this run I will want to do some decent training tho, any suggestions for workouts much appreciated (I kinda know my way round a gym ). The best thing about this gym is, that it'll be open 24/7 - so workouts at 3AM are technically a possibility!

Right, thanks for taking the time to read this whole essay (and apologies if it bored you!), any feedback much appreciated!

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Woohoo!! Did a 3 mile run this afternoon and I had some energy left to spare!!! Tried it the smart way this time, i.e. got home from dog walk, had some porridge with raisins, then had a nap because I was dead knackerd, got up and left. Found a new route that I like, and sprinted up every incline and bridge on the way - about 5 or 6. Hardly walked at all, only times that I had to slow down or stop was because of other traffic.

So learned from last week and today's experiences: running 4 miles with inadequate food/drink/rest will damn near kill you, running 3 miles with plenty of rest and sustenance is SO good!! It might sound totally obvious, but I had to be reminded of the obvious indeed

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Did a 3.5 mile run, took me 45 minutes, which is decent but can obviously be improved upon Really can't wait for this gym to open now, to get some weight training in too! I've spent my time at work well by trying to read up on weight training to support running, and it appears that light-ish weights and higher reps are the way foward. 2X12's it is then ...

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Went for a short run today, did about 2+ miles in 22 minutes. 11 minutes/mile over 2 miles is a slight progress, cosidering that I could barely run a couple of 100 yards when I started running again a couple of months ago. The best motivation I find is looking back and realising the progress that I've made. Gym next week, woohoo!

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Didn't go for a run during the weekend - for the simple reason that there just aren't enough hours in a Saturday and Sunday The guys (dogs) had not been for a decent walk all week - other than going to the park - so Sunday morning was theirs and we went to the woods for a couple of hours. It's got a few inclines, so I kind of did at least something The guys were knackered and took themselves to bed after they'd had their brekkie - goal achieved!

So went today, not feeling ridiculously great, but very aware of the fact that this race is looming in the now not so far distance ... Ended up doing 3.25 miles, managing to sprint the last 50+ yards home. Time wasn't amazing, 43 minutes (done better), but taking the wind and rain into consideration it's not too bad. Had a stretch and my legs are now satisfyingly on fire. Oh, and running with Senser screaming in my ears added a whole new dimenstion to the whole thing

Ran past my new gym that's finally opened today, doesn't look half bad! Will prolly have a workout on Wednesday - if I can fit it in with everything else ...

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Felt really great, and I would of pushed harder with a few weights, if it wasn't for this run coming up tomorrow (eeks!!) and I didn't want to risk being crippled already by DOMS - well impressed with my own sensibility there, don't happen too often!

The gym in itself is fine, it has indeed got everything you need and nothing you don't. I was surprised to see the number of people that were there at 8PM on a Friday evening, more than I'd expected. Of course I was the only woman in the free weights area, as per usual - plus the blokes were all 15-20 years younger than me. I'm sure I got a few looks when I went about doing 2x10 bench presses with just the bar, but it doesn't really bother me. I always get quite excited when I see other women leaving machines in favour of free weights, but it rarely happens unfortunately. To me, free weights ae the way forward!

Any case "rest" day today in preparation for this race tomorrow. Sparky, one of my dogs, quite happily pounced on me this morning to announce that it was 6AM and thus time to get up. He obviously doesn't do weekend lie ins ... So we've been to the park for an hour or so and I'll be doing my usual weekend stuff today. Rest tonight in bed maybe ....

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Well, today was "the day", i.e. the day of the 5.25 mile run that started this whole renewed fitness thing off. Itwas cold and it was raining, and everyone else looked a lot fitter than me, but I did it! Ran/jogged almost all of it, walked a few yards a few times, and finished in 1:02, just under 12 mins/mile. Really pleased with that, considering that I've only started training again a couple of months ago, and not been that consistent either.

The plan now is to incorporate a lower body workout (squats, lunges etc) a week into the whole training route and of course to keep running! Will now have to wait first till DOMS have all subsided tho

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Not posted for a week, was feeling a bit 'not right', if that makes sense

Went to the gym for a workout on Tuesday night, 1/12/09.

Did:10 mins warm up on the rowing machinestretch

2x10 lunges @ 2x5 kgs dumbells1x10 squats @ bar + 5 kgs1 rep into the second set and I got this feeling in my left hamstring, that if I was going down any further it would "ping" (my term for it, meaning that a muscle contracts way faster than it shuold, or contracts when it should lengthen - proper term suggestion would be much appreciated! ). Therefore stood back up too quickly and almost did the same with my right quad So abandoned that exercise altogether.

Then played it safe, and did2x10 calf press @ 18kgs2x10 crunch on swiss ballStretch

Went for a very gentle run on Wednesday 2/12/09, did about 2-odd miles

Today, 6/12/09.Went for a 2.5 hour walk with the dogs (nice! ), then had a gym session in the evening. Did:

Felt really good this evening I'm still finding my feet when it comes to exercising and doing programmes and all that again, it's been a while .... But I think I'm happy with what I'm attemtpting at the moment: 2 runs a week and 1 upper and 1 lower body workout a week.Although if anyone has any suggestions then that would be much appreciated!

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

Hiya Mog! Well, somebody can actually take at least part of the credit for kicking my backside back into exercising again, missus

Training is, again, a bit haphazard this week as I'm working overtime to cover for a colleague who's off on holiday. It just means that I'm spending an hour a day longer in the office, so an hour less with my dogs. I do have a neighbour coming in at lunch time, but still I want to spend some quality time with them too, rather than spending time in the gym.

Did go for a run today tho, plm 35 minutes, felt good. I'm still not the fastest runner on the planet by far, but I keep myself motivated by looking back and realising what I can run now - albeit at a snail's pace - that I couldn't and wouldn't have wanted to run before. We'll get there in the end!

Will try for another lower body workout again in the next couple of days ...

_________________My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage. - Aunty Francis

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